Port Adelaide's David Koch says banned Essendon coach James Hird would not have a job at his club

Updated
Sat 31 Aug 2013, 11:53 AM AEST

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Koch speaks out ... Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has said if the supplements scandal had happened at the Power, the coach would never have worked at the club again.

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Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has said suspended Essendon coach James Hird would never have coached again at the club if he had been at the Power.

Hird was last week suspended by the AFL Commission for 12 months for conduct unbecoming relating to the Bombers' controversial supplements program.

As part of the same set of penalties, the Bombers were dumped from this year's AFL finals, fined $2 million and stripped of their first two draft picks for the 2013 draft, and the second-round pick in 2014.

Essendon football manager Danny Corcoran received a ban of six months, with two months suspended, while assistant coach Mark Thompson was fined $30,000.

Club doctor Bruce Reid is fighting his charges of conduct unbecoming.

On the night of Hird's suspension, Essendon chairman Paul Little confirmed that the club would take Hird back as coach as soon as his ban was completed.

Little later said that the club would work on a contract extension for the former Essendon player - who won two premierships, Brownlow and Norm Smith Medals while at the Bombers - to take him through until at least the end of the 2016 season.

Koch told Grandstand on Saturday that while hiring decisions were totally a matter for the Essendon board, he would not have made the same choice if Hird had been the Port Adelaide coach.

Suffice it to say it would not have happened at Port Adelaide. If we were in that position I would have stood down at the very beginning and the coach would never coach at Port Adelaide again.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch

"All I would say is that I know of no other business where - for want of a better term - a divisional chief executive is charged with those sorts of behaviour, suspended for a year and as part of that said 'we'll keep your job open for when you come back and we'll extend your contract for another two years," he said.

"Suffice it to say it would not have happened at Port Adelaide.

"If we were in that position I would have stood down at the very beginning and the coach would never coach at Port Adelaide again."

Clubs have responsibility to community, Koch says

Koch said that football was a business where everyone knew everyone else and was friends with people across the league.

A footy organisation has a real responsibility to the wider community to set a standard in leadership and integrity.

David Koch

"But a footy organisation has a real responsibility to the wider community to set a standard in leadership and integrity," he told Grandstand.

He denied there was resentment towards Essendon from the other 17 clubs for casting a shadow over the 2013 AFL season.

"I don't think it's resentment, I think we were shocked when we looked at some of the behaviours outlined," he said, citing Essendon's independent report into its own governance conducted by former Telstra chief Ziggy Switkowski.

"You read that and you think, 'goodness, it's a club that got a bit out of control'."

Koch said he had shown parts of the report to Port Adelaide high performance manager Darren Burgess.

"(I asked him) have you ever come across anything like this, (in) any sports organisation in the world?' and he said 'not even close',' Koch said.